The Palestinian national, Musa Al-Alami, revealed the position of the Arab fugitives during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war:
The Arabs of Palestine left their homes, were scattered and lost everything. But one hope remained: the Arab armies on the eve of their entry into Palestine were to save the country and restore matters to their normal course, punish the aggressor, and throw oppressive Zionism with its dreams and dangers into the sea. On May 14, 1948, crowds of Arabs stood on the roads leading to the borders of Palestine, greeting enthusiastically the advancing armies. Enough days and weeks passed for the holy mission to be accomplished, but the Arab armies did not save the country. They did nothing but leave their hands Acre, Sarafand, Lod, Ramla, Nazareth, most of the south and the rest of the north. Then hope fled (Middle East Magazine, October 1949).
Jaffa paper As express (March 30, 1948) He criticized the Arab villagers near Tel Aviv for “bringing shame to us all by” abandoning the villages. “
“Villages were often abandoned even before they were threatened by the advance of the war,” said John Bagot Globe, commander of the Jordanian Arab Legion.London Daily Mail12 August 1948).
In his memoirs, Syrian Prime Minister Khaled Al-Azem acknowledged the Arab role in persuading refugees to leave:
“Since 1948, we have been demanding the return of refugees to their homes. But we are the ones who encouraged them to leave. And only a few months have passed since we called for them to leave and we appealed to the United Nations to solve their problems.”
The Jordanian newspaper stated that “the Arab countries encouraged the Arabs of Palestine to leave their homes temporarily in order to move away from the Arab invading armies.” Palestine (February 19, 1949).
The Jordan newspaper quoted a refugee as saying: In defense (September 6, 1954) He said: “The Arab government told us: Get out so we can enter. So, we went out, but they did not enter.”
Habib Issa said in the Lebanese New York newspaper: “The Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Azzam Pasha, assured the Arab peoples that the occupation of Palestine and Tel Aviv would only be a military outing.” Al Hoda (June 8, 1951). He pointed out that they were already at the borders and that all the millions that the Jews spent on land and economic development would be easy spoils, because throwing the Jews into the Mediterranean would be a simple matter … and the fraternal advice was given to the Arabs of Palestine to leave their lands, homes, and properties and stay temporarily in The neighboring sister countries, lest they be killed by the rifles of the invading Arab armies. “
Meanwhile, the Arab Jewish leaders urged to remain in Palestine and to become citizens of Israel. The Palestine Jews Association issued this appeal on October 2, 1947:
We will do everything in our power to maintain peace and establish mutually beneficial cooperation [Jews and Arabs]. Now, here and now, from Jerusalem itself, an invitation must be made to the Arab states to join the Jews and the advancing Jewish state and work side by side in our common interest, for peace and the advancement of equal sovereignty.
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